Tuesday, February 24, 2009

well, it's official. nude is the new black. ivory and beige reigned on the red carpet at the oscars on sunday. everyone knows i'm all about the nude family range of color, but even i was like, ok, enough...it seemed like it was the oscar uniform this year. penelope cruz started the night off in her vintage pierre balmain gown, which i think looked great on her. and i loved vicky cristina barcelona, so i was happy with this one:the oscars should have been subtitled "the bride wore white". star after star paraded out in their ivory/nude gowns. and while i think they looked amazing, i was bored. i wanted something different. i couldn't help but feel like i was looking through an issue of instyle weddings. they seemed pretty wedding dress-y. some of the nude/ivory dresses i liked were jennifer aniston's valentino haute couture gown:

taraji p. henson's tiered roberto cavalli:

and anne hathaway's armani prive:

nicole kidman also chose an ivory l'wren scott feathery number, SJP looked like typical SJP in over the top dior couture, evan rachel wood, marissa tomei, even heath ledger's family..mom and sis popped up in the same color. well, it's hot, i get it. the only nude dress i hated, and i mean, hated, was jessica biel's. look at this thing:

ick. biel gets my vote for worst dress at the oscars. a close second for worst dress goes to miley cyrus in her freaky museum-worthy overly detailed zuhair murad gown:

she just looks uncomfortable. in her interview she said she felt like the dress weighed "100,000 pounds", um, yeah, well it shows. hideous. and wipe that fake smile off your face, you chose that beast of a dress.

as long as we're on my least fave dresses, i have to say, beyonce's house of deron dress was pretty bad:

while it showcased her infamous curves, it looks like a poorly upholstered couch puked on the little mermaid. vanessa hudgens said her marchesa tulle gown reminded her of audrey hepburn, but i'm thinking...eh, not so much:

what's the deal with all the fishtail like bottoms? this dress looks too old for her. and as an audrey fan, i'm thinking not very hepburn-esque at all.

moving on to my favorites, i loved angelina jolie's elie saab gown. while she's not my favorite celebrity, and i'm usually sick of seeing her, i was intrigued by her whole ensemble. those emerald earrings and that huge emerald ring were unbelievable. i'm going to have to put her as my favorite oscar look this year:

rounding out my top three are natalie portman in her lilac rodarte pleated gown and alicia keys in her plum armani prive chiffon gown. it could have been because they weren't wearing a neutral color, i'm not sure, but they stood out:

and the best accessory award goes to amy adams for that fred leighton bib necklace:

so, to sum it up, i wasn't that impressed with the oscar fashions this year. the big trends of neutral colors, strapless looks, fishtail bottoms...whoopty doo. blame the boring looks on the recession. i don't know why, but it seems like that's what everyone's blaming everything on.

come to fred for recession-friendly priced celeb inspired pieces, like this cute strapless number (complete with pockets, always a plus) as worn by rihanna:

Monday, February 16, 2009

sofie kinsella's shopaholics books were my favorite. i think i read them all in hardcover the day they came out. and i hate hardcover books because my wrists get sore reading them. (weird). i took off of work, last friday, the 13th, over a month ago...when they announced that the movie "confessions of a shopaholic" was going to be released in theaters. so why have i not seen the movie yet? let me tell you...i missed the movie because i was shopping. my shopaholic cohorts, alicia and lorri, accompanied me on what turned out to be a 9-hour day of shopping. we were so tired after, we couldn't even make it to the movie. i was asleep by 8pm the night of the marathon shopping excursion. i missed the shopaholic movie because i was shopping. um, what's wrong with me?

my no-shopping in the month of february promise is out the window. oops. what started as an innocent trek to find lorri a birthday outfit turned into one of the most productive, enjoyable, amazing shopping outings in history. well, i'm exaggerating, but it sure felt that way to us. we woke up early to hit a local sample sale. lorri won for being the most thrifty, scoring 4 tops for $12. alicia dropped the most cash there on dresses, a top, a necklace and i walked out with the cutest ruffly cami i've ever seen. of course my item was full price...probably the only thing at the sample sale full price....but i love it. it was worth only getting four hours of sleep for the sale. well, stores weren't open yet after the sale, so we went to lorri's to hop on her computer and do some online shopping. hautelook.com, gilt.com, eh, nothing special...back to the streets. brady street to be exact.

three hours later, we emerged from detour...all of us on a shopping high. i don't know how we spent so much time in the store, but we did. i think we tried on everything in the women's section of the store...but we all found a ton of stuff. and everything at 25% off. who can't appreciate that? i spent the most, shocker, and left with a new pair of jeans that i'm obsessed with, a sheer button down splendid top, a gray alexander wang tshirt, some hammered gold bangles and a new ring. alicia got a tshirt dress and vest that she immediately wore that night, and lorri dropped a wad of cash on about ten items....which we all justified by reminding her it was her birthday. next stop, miss groove where we found more things. i found my spring handbag, which has always been a daunting task for me. i never find bags i'm obsessed with. but i found this david and scotti one, in a more matte, taupey beige color and a slightly different shape and I'M IN LOVE:

tired, hungry (we kept pushing off lunch due to the excellent shopping) and cold, we kept on going. miss groove intimates...and lastly stephanie horne. by this time it was close to dinner, we were dizzy with a combo of shopping high and hunger...but extremely giddy about our new purchases. we decided we had to see the movie another day...but i'm pretty sure we played out the movie ourselves last friday:

so, now it's back to reality. all my blogging about spring fashion had me in "i need everything" mode. and now i'm off to an excellent start. oh well, i broke my no shopping this month rule. big deal. i had a great day with great friends. and we can justify it so many ways, it's lorri's birthday, everything was on sale, we wanted to stimulate the economy, blah blah blah...i will chalk it up as one of the greatest shopping days i've ever had.

you can knock off rosario dawson's look for less at fred. i think any muted, earth tone dress, whether it be nude, beige, dusty rose/pink, gray would work with big turquoise earrings and stacked bracelets.

Monday, February 9, 2009

ruffled everything is everywhere. and surprisingly, i'm all over this girly trend. who would have thought? i can't look at any fashion mag, website, anything without seeing the ruffle trend featured. for me, i can do the ruffled tops, in silk or satin chiffon with my beat up denim. i have lusted over this yaya aflalo top ever since i saw it on lauren conrad:

but it was $259 everywhere, and really, who can justify that right now? so, i saved it in my favorites and occassionally looked at it and imagined it with my jeans and metallic flat sandals. how cute would i be sitting outside drinking a glass of pinot grigio? well, bring on the warm weather, because i scored that top in "ivy" green on hautelook.com last week! i love that website. check it out:

every morning, like clockwork, i'm logged on to hautelook.com at 9:58. refresh at 9:59, refresh at 10:00. it's exhilarating--and it's become a ritual for me. and when i can't be on my computer at 10am to check the sale, i'm suddenly filled with anger, resentment, anxiety--well, it's not that bad...but it's close. and if that isn't ocd enough, i have to jump back on at 11am when gilt groupe's sale commences. ugh. it's a sickness. but hey, it's something to look forward to every day and something that makes me happy.

back to ruffles...i became obsessed with a ruffled bag that sarah jessica parker has on, cross body when she is getting into a cab. i've searched high and low for this bag, in a beige or gray color, but can't find it anywhere. frustrating. oh, i'll find it eventually, but until then, i'll drool over this valentino bag, which is completely anti-danielle looking...in pink and so feminine, but i do love looking at it. i wouldn't own it (clearly, it's valentino!) but it's something that would look amazing on display in my closet:

i'm even loving ruffles on shoes:

and leather jackets:

there are so many options when it comes to ruffles. you can go all out and wear a totally tiered ruffled cocktail dress, or go the subtle route with a one shouldered (huge spring trend) ruffled top in a cheery spring color, like these:

any way you slice it, ruffles are everywhere. kristina models a couple ruffled looks from fred here:

whether you embrace the trend full-on, or just dabble in the trend with a ruffled clutch, you'll be in style this season. talk to you next week, with more spring trends and style inspiration!

Sunday, February 1, 2009

so, i stumbled upon this website: http://holidays.bfn.org/spring/ and learned that as of right now, there are only 46 days til spring. really, that's it. i think that's doable. the website gives you a to-the-minute calculation of when spring will arrive--along with a rather creepy audio of a bird chirping or singing, or dying. i'm not really sure. anyway, that made me happy. it was 39 degrees out on saturday and i didn't even wear a jacket to work. what's wrong with me? 39 measly degrees felt like a heatwave. weird. our winters have seemed long and fierce, and now i'm happy with a 39 degree day. i hate that it has come to that. well, whatever the case, my spring wardrobe is of course the focal point of my days lately and my next spring trend is embellishment. jeweled necklines or beading/embellishments on the bust/hems of clothings may seem busy. especially to someone like me, who likes to keep things simple, but for some reason, i've always been drawn to embellishments on tops and dresses. not the cheesy fake rhinestones or cheap looking plastic jewels, but ones done tastefully like these:

i think that's the perfect cocktail dress. i love black and gold together, the silhouette of the dress is perfect and the neckline classily done (is classily a word?). simple earrings, or a bracelet would complete this look.

i don't have to get dressed up that often, so i like this embellished tshirt dress for spring. besides being one of my favorite colors, i love the jersey tshirt fabric and the embellishment all over the dress. i'll wear it to dinner in spring/summer with my flat silver gladiator sandals:

if you're not a dress person, you can follow this trend by wearing an embellished top or tank. i'm loving this one:i love the pale green color, the simplicity of the neckline and how grecian it feels. again, wear with jeans and gladiator sandals...or just metallic sandals in general. for a more casual look, check out this tank:

one: i love the ikat print. it's been big lately, and still a print that's going strong. two: the colors are phenomenal. i feel like you can dress this up or down. and three: the jeweled neckline has the boho vibe i dig.

so, there are many ways to embrace the embelishment. kristina was inspired by the yellow dresses with jeweled necklines we saw while perusing some magazines, and wanted to try on some dresses we had at fred:

i think when chosen carefully, an embellished top or dress can be a standout piece and totally worth looking into for spring. i know i'll for sure be scooping up something embellished in the next month or so (when my shopping moratoreum is over).

keep reading my blog for more spring trends in upcoming weeks. i'll finish with another celeb look knocked off with fred apparel. graphic tees are hot right now, and we've got them at fred. come in and check 'em out: